sore calves?

Until the pain is gone! This time wear shoes!

haha, oh man that bites! you ran on pavement didn't you? stick to softer terrain so you can land on your heel now and then. As for how long, give it a few days and go back to shoes till your calves feel at least 85% better and then ease into it again.

No it was on a rubber coated track. I ran barefoot alot last year but ran in shoes then a couple laps on the track and kept adding more time barefoot as I went then got to where i ran on concrete and asphalt. I didn't realize this year there would be that much difference for last year i never got sore but i just up and ran four miles barefoot soooooooo, I'm in some serious calf pain. What is it that's so much different than running in shoes that has me so sore/? I've been going at it now five months without taking any time off so i think i'll just take days off till all the pain is gone. I'm forty six years old to so that doesn't help.

man the same thing happened to me a few weeks ago. i ran barefoot for 15 minutes on a monday, and could hardly walk for a few days. i know exactly what pain you are talking about. i think i ran for 15 minutes the following friday, and was good after that.

i suggest:

1)advil

2)soaking calves in a tub of hot water (hot!)

3)massaging(DEEP!!!) a lot, but ESPECIALLY during the soak, it seemed as though the super heating made it easier to massage really deeply, as, for me at least, it was very sore to massage it usually.

oh, except i'm 20.

but to answer your question, i'm assuming that you exhibited proper foot strike while running barefoot, so you didn't have the "benefit" of a heel like you would have in normal training shoes. as a result, the muscles involved in keeping you on the balls of your feet for this entire 4 mile run have been pushed to their limit! no big deal, but that's basically it. as i understand it. on a sort of side note, running barefoot is very good for you! though i would suggest grass (it feels nice but it's also soft).

hope all that is helpful.

Thanks, elscorcho.....I'm massaging them now as we speak......lol...

The old adage, "pain is weakness leaving the body" applies here. Your calves were obviously weak, and now that weakness is leaving. Next time you do 4 miles barefoot your calves will not hurt. That will be a pretty good day. I remember when I finally realized why my calves hurt so much after cross country races. It was because I did all of my training in big, bulky trainers with all that heel. When I raced in spikes it was like a completely different exercise. It would be like doing all of your training on a bike and then racing XC. you should train under the same conditions as your race.

RUN NOW, barefootdummy! Sore calf muscles were caused by your running. That is a GOOD PAIN. You run through that kind of thing. Some pains are telling you that you are improving. Calf pain is one of them. Now that you have such a strong pain guiding your way, run hard every other day and try to see HOW LONG you can feel the pain. Usually even if your sprint hard the pain subsides in three weeks.

calf pain like you get after running on the beach is good pain from muscle growth, but it also means you're close to a more serious injury, so ice the calves, be careful about running hard. and try the walk a lot, run a little, walk a lot, thing that you do for the 'calf heart attack' recovery, which I just successfully used back in february. the walk a mile, run very slowly 100 yards, walk a ways, run more can very quickly, as you feel better, be turned back toward all running and then harder running.

I have the same problem except I ran in jasaris for the first time yesterday for a 2 mile race. Didnt land on the heels much at all. Only problem is I have a race in a few hours.

No, but thanks for asking!

No, but thanks for asking!